Eclipsed Hearts

Last Call

The place was certainly active for a Thursday night. I hadn’t expected it, but it looked like they had drink specials that drew in a crowd. A man sat next to me and ordered a beer. I didn’t pay him much attention.

Once his drink came, he turned and smiled at me. “I’m Sam,” he said, leaning a little closer. “I figured I’d come sit next to you since you’re safe.”

“What do you mean by that?” I asked, genuinely perplexed by his comment. His words seemed to carry the weight of an unspoken insult.

“Well,” Sam began, his voice dripping with an air of arrogance, “compared to the rest of the people here, you don’t seem particularly enticing. I mean, look at you. Plain Jane, with your mousy brown hair and those dull, lifeless eyes. It’s like you blend into the background, completely unremarkable.”

I stared at him, taken aback by his audacity. Never had I encountered someone who would resort to such a peculiar strategy to strike up a conversation. Sam, with his dark hair neatly combed and sharp features, seemed like the type of person who thrived on attention and sought it at any cost.

Instead of feeling insulted or flustered, an unexpected curiosity sparked within me. I leaned back on my stool, mustering a smile that matched his fake charm.

“Well, Sam,” I replied calmly, “it’s fascinating how you’re able to make such astute observations about a person based solely on their appearance. Truly impressive.”

Sam’s smirk faltered for a moment as I sipped my beer indifferently. My eyes didn’t linger on him, instead scanning the bar again. It wasn’t worth my time to deal with this man. I had better things to do, and I was still searching for any sign of the werewolf I was hunting.

“Aren’t you at least going to tell me your name?” he asked.

I scoffed. “Why would you want to know the name of the wallpaper? If I’m intended to be some invisible, dull accessory, then why would it matter? You know everything about me that you deserve to know after speaking to me the way you did. Either shut up and drink your beer, or go find someone with lower self-esteem to use your flawed manipulations with.”

Silence hung in the air between us as Sam seemed to ponder my words. His smug expression cracked, and his eyes widened in a mix of shock and disbelief. Sam might have been handsome, but he was stupid.

Looking up, I saw the reflection of Ian entering the bar. He said he would be five minutes behind me, but it felt like it had been longer. Ian didn’t acknowledge me, but went off to an empty table and claimed it for his own. I didn’t focus on him.

Sam slunk away from the bar, his confidence broken by my words. He wasn’t a werewolf. I’d seen the way they reacted to people treating them like the way I’d responded to him. I was certain a killer werewolf wouldn’t have left as if he were a chastised poodle.

Ian had some pictures of the werewolf we were hunting, but they weren’t great. I knew he had dark hair and was thickly built, but nothing else. I’d be watching Ian as much as I could. He would signal when he saw the wolf. In the meantime, I would watch any man who looked like the monster.

As I watched, I saw Ian talking in a friendly way with the waitress. They laughed and smiled. It made me angry in a way I didn’t like.

Why couldn’t he be friendly with me? I was supposed to be his partner for this hunt.

The way he chatted with the waitress and then joked with people at the surrounding tables made me realize it was more than just being comfortable in the situation. He knows them.

Was it his research, or did they already know him? Was this werewolf threatening more than a town he laid claim to? Was it threatening the people he cared for?

My anger shifted from the weird feeling about Ian to sympathy for him. It aimed my anger toward the werewolf who might hurt Ian the way I was hurt. No matter the strain we had in our own relationship, Ian didn’t deserve to lose everything a second time.

No one ever deserved that.

The night wore on. A few more men came to hit on me, more women flirted with Ian and he flirted back with ease. I would flirt for a while but still try to get people away from me so I could hunt the werewolf.

Though I wasn’t the youngest woman in the bar, I was fit and attractive. Many people guessed me to be younger than I was. Just because I didn’t go out to get knocked up with the other women in my clan didn’t mean I didn’t know how to attract men and flirt.

A few times when I looked up at the mirror, I could have sworn I saw Ian scowling and seething. Ian probably thought I was more focused on flirting than on the hunt. He was wrong, but it was his first time hunting with me. He couldn’t have known how seriously I took hunts.

We spent four hours at the bar and the werewolf never showed. I didn’t know why Ian seemed to think this would be a good idea, but I wouldn’t dig until we’d finished with his first rotation through the places. Just coming back to the same location repeatedly would be a better idea. His methods confused me.

When I looked up to scan the room again, I saw Ian making his way toward the bar. He approached with a swagger and confidence that didn’t hold the condescending air he previously had. Ian slid onto the stool next to me and leaned in, catching my eye before dropping his gaze to my lips.

“Hey there, beautiful. It’s getting late. Let me take you home. I’ll be your bodyguard,” he purred.

My eyes widened, and my heart fluttered. He was using the exact same body language as he was using with the women earlier. The way his eyes lingered on my lips made me want to lick my lips and I didn’t know why.

He leaned in closer to me, his face passing near mine as he got close enough to whisper. His breath on my ear sent a thrill through me that I’d never felt before.

“Play along. We have to go and I don’t want our cover blown in case we have to come back. Let’s go, Mari,” Ian whispered before inhaling deeply and quietly rumbling under his breath.

I placed a hand on his chest, pushing him lightly and moving him away from my ear. He looked into my eyes again, then back to my lips. This time, I gave into the urge to lick them. I put my other hand on his thigh and arched my back a little so my chest would stick out more. I could play along with the best of them.

“That sounds like fun,” I murmured and slid off the stool, rubbing as much of myself onto him as possible.

Ian was up in a flash, placing a hand on the small of my back and rushing me out the door like an eager lover. He was good. If I didn’t know better, I would think he actually wanted me. When we get to his car, he turned me around and pressed me against it.

People were milling around the parking lot, so I understood. He wouldn’t just drop the act because we weren’t in the bar any longer. I wrapped my arms around his neck as he dipped his head down into the curve of my neck. He groaned, and it made me blush.

“You liked that, didn’t you? All those men wanting you, flirting with you. You’re turned on right now. Did it feel good to have all their attention?” he growled.

Was I turned on? I’d had ѕex before, for work, but I didn’t date. Was the fluttering feeling inside me and the urge to move my body me being turned on? I thought it was just how I’d trained myself to react to men in order to get werewolves alone and kill them.

My mind was racing with thoughts as I felt the heat from Ian’s body against mine. I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself and remember why we were really here.

“We need to pretend to be slightly drunk and aroused by each other, Ian. That’s what I’m doing. Now get me in the car,” I hissed into his ear as I tugged at his hair and released a throaty chuckle as if I was having a much better time than I was.

Ian pulled back and looked at me, his eyes searching mine for any sign of deception. I could see the recognition in his gaze, the understanding that I wasn’t just playing a game. This was a hunt and lives were on the line if we didn’t catch the monster before he hurt someone else.

He released me and stepped back, pulling me with him before opening the door and practically pushing me into it. I put on my belt as he ran to the driver’s side and barely took a moment to buckle up before throwing the car into gear and hauling ass out of there.